


Change Me

by SqueakyNinja



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 10:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5703958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SqueakyNinja/pseuds/SqueakyNinja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iruka is not Iruka.  At least this one isn't what everyone is used to.  All they want is the real Iruka back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tucuxi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tucuxi/gifts).



Iruka sighed heavily as he closed the door behind him in his apartment, exhausted and sore after a long mission. He cupped his cheek, still feeling the force of the blow he got just hours ago. With each foot shuffling in front of the other, he made it to his small bathroom and rummaged through his medicine cabinet behind the mirror. Out he pulled a roll of bandages and a bottle of antiseptic. Carefully, he looked at his reflection.

The brunet’s eyes were sunken with bags under them. His skin dry and pale. His lips chapped. His left cheek swollen and bruised. His hair stringy, sticking to his sweaty skin. A scar running across his cheeks and nose was the only thing that stood out against his tan skin. Iruka hung his head, taking off his hitai-ate, and placing it down the sink. His breathing turned shallow as he stared down into the skin, his eyes fixated downward. Slowly, his hand reached over and turned on the faucet, watching the water race down. He cupped a handful of water and splashed the cool liquid on his face, trying to calm his nerves. He rose his head and looked back at his reflection, water dripping from his hair strands. He brushed them aside as he tended to his wounds.

-

“Hey, Iruka!” Raidou raised his hand, seeing his fellow comrade approach the next day on the streets. “Kurenai is getting some food. Do you wanna join us? …Hey, are you ok after yesterday?” he glanced at the few bandages that graced Iruka’s face.

“Just fine…” Iruka brushed past him.

“Hey! What’s with the attitude?” Raidou demanded, rushing up to the brunet with great concern.

“No attitude. I am just showing you the respect you deserve after yesterday…” he replied in a monotone voice.

“Yesterday? You mean when I tried to surprise you with an exploding seal?” Radio questioned and got just a glare in reply. “You need to lighten up! Weren’t you a class clown at one time?”

“That was in the past! Besides, that explosion not only could have harmed me but instead, what it actually did was give out our location to the enemy!” Iruka gritted through his teeth, trying to keep his voice down among the villagers.

“For one, it wasn’t my idea. It was Kurenai’s. Two, you were being a stick in the mud over a recovery mission.”

“It was still a mission that required our full attention.”

“It was just a C-rank mission.”

“Still a mission!”

“What with all the commotion?” Kurenai stepped out, holding a few orders of dango in her hands. “Iruka? Is everything ok? Did you want to-“

“I’m fine!!” Iruka shouted. The villagers around them turned around and stared at them. Some whispered, some walked away with their children, a little frightened.

Kurenai looked at her friend and back at Raidou. “Here, hold this,” she handed her teammate the food before placing her hands on Iruka’s shoulders. “Iruka, you know you can talk to us. You can rely on us! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Iruka peered down, unable to look into the woman’s crimson eyes. He sighed as he brushed her hands away and started to walk away.

“Iruka…” Kurenai mumbled, gravely concerned over him. “He was always so sweet! I wonder what happened?”

“He said it was the joke yesterday,” Raidou replied, taking one serving of dango. He was about to take one bite before Kurenai pulled it away from him.

“You know he’s been in this rut before that!” she pouted. “Still… I wish he would just talk to us or someone about it…” she sighed before starting to eat the dango herself.

Iruka, though, continued to storm off, not paying attention to the citizens and fellow shinobi that were staring at him, judging him, whispering to others about him. He shut his eyes tight as he focused on where he was going: the Hokage’s office.

The chuunin walked through the Academy, dodging the random students running through the hall and in and out of classrooms. He stopped though when he glanced inside a single classroom and noticed a young blond child. A young blond child with whiskers on his face. Just sitting in his chair, not paying attention to his lessons but instead focusing on another. A young Uchiha who seemed to gain the attention of all the girls. 

Iruka scoffed as he walked on, continuing on to the office.

-

“You wish for a transfer?” Hiruzen asked, surprised. He turned back from the windows and back at the young shinobi in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes in frustration.

“Yes, to another team, Sandaime-sama,” Iruka stated in the older man’s office.

“Iruka, not again…” Hiruzen took his pipe and breathed out a stream of smoke. Slowly, he walked over to his desk and sat down. “This is your third transfer in two months. I thought putting you on my son’s old team would do you some good.”

“I just wish to be on a team who’s members take missions seriously,” the brunet replied.

“I don’t know if there is a team left I place you with,” the Hokage looked down at his desk, gazing on the various papers and files. “Many of the chunnin already work well with those they work with. I cannot break them up.”

“Then a jounin will be suitable for me,” Iruka insisted.

“A jounin?” Hiruzen questioned, looking back at the chunk in his room. “Jounin go on higher ranked missions, missions chuunin do not take part of.”

“I assure you, I will not slow down the jounin I will be partnered, no matter the mission rank. I can take the task that is presented to me,” Iruka curled his hands into fists, shaking a little, determined. “Please, trust me on this, Sandaime Hokage!”

Hiruzen sighed again. He looked again among the papers, flipping through one pile than another. He stopped and froze at one. “Here,” he held up the file. “This one is quite the example of the title of jounin. He was assigned a mission for tomorrow so you may join him.”

“Really?” Iruka asked shocked but quickly composed himself. “I- I mean, thank you, Sandaime-sama,” he bowed again.

“No need for that, Iruka,” Hiruzen smiled. “You are to meet him at the village entrance tomorrow morning at sunrise. I’ll send a notice to him that you will be joining him for the mission.”

“Thank you again, Sandaime-sama! I promise I won’t let you down!” he bowed again before taking his leave out of the office.

Hiruzen looked at the jounin files again as he grinned.

-

Iruka gathered kunai and shuriken in his hip pouch, ninjutsu scrolls in his vest, smoke bombs and seals in his back pouch, and more accessories in his backpack. He tied his hitae-ate on his forehead and slid on his sandals. He took one last look around his home. A simple bed and simple desk with simple walls and floors and a single, simple window. He noticed the first rays of the morning were starting to peek out. Without a second thought, he exited the apartment and locked up.

The chuunin hopped through the village up on rooftops, taking shortcuts, making it to the village entrance quickly. He hopped down by the doors and looked around, looking for the jounin but found only the local guards by the doors. 

“That’s weird… Sandaime-sama specifically told me at sunrise…” Iruka murmured. “I should have gotten that jounin’s name…”

Iruka continued to wait for his partner. He watched the sunlight slowly creep across the sky, lighting up the village. He tapped his foot and crossed his arms, starting to grow impatient. The sun started to peak from behind the treetops and fully exposed itself. ‘Where is he?!’ he angrily thought.

“So you must be the chuunin,” a voice suddenly called out from behind, nearly two hours after sunrise.

Iruka quickly jumped and turned around, staring at a fellow Konoha shinobi. Aside from the traditional garb, the other man was sporting a thin, cloth mask that covered the lower half of his face while his hitae-ate was pulled over his left eye. “Are you-“

“The jounin that you will accompany,” he looked at the brunet with his lazy-looking eye.

“Your name?” Iruka inquired, raising an eyebrow. He inspected the man carefully, noticing he was packing lightly compared to himself.

“Wow, straight forward,” the man chuckled. “Kakashi,” he said, extending his gloved hand for a handshake.

“Umino Iruka,” the chuunin bowed toward the jounin instead.

“Hey, no need for the bowing!” Kakashi waved his hands, feeling a little uneasy.

“You are my superior. It is only proper. Thank you for allowing me to join you in today’s mission,” Iruka stated.

“You’re… welcome?” Kakashi almost questioned, running his hand through his wild, silver hair.

“I take it you were late for a good reason then,” he stated, not truly believing what he said. “What is on the itinerary?” the brunet pondered, trying to focus on the subject at hand.

“On the- Oh! The mission! Well… follow me and I’ll tell you on the way!” the jounin smiled behind his mask. He walked over to the doors and looked toward the guards. With a wave of his hand over to the guards, they nodded and opened the large doors, allowing the two men to exit the village and start off on their mission.

Iruka’s hands were in fists again as he walked behind Kakashi and followed the jounin behind closely as he watched him jump to the treetops and followed suit.

“So… you’re a chuunin?” Kakashi started a conversation as they dashed through the trees, the wind slightly blowing against them.

“Yes, graduated when I was sixteen,” Iruka replied.

“Is that so… Six years ago…” the jounin smirked under his mask. “I was promoted to jounin younger than that.”

“R-Really?!” the brunet asked, astounded. Quickly, he cleared his throat and resumed his composure. “Wow… So you must be quite the jounin.”

“You could say that,” Kakashi continued to jump from branch to branch. “And you? Do you plan on becoming a jounin as well?”

“Yes. My parents were jounin so it’s best that I achieve that rank just as they did.”

“You sure about that?” the jounin asked. “Why not do what you want to do?”

“What do you mean? It is what I want to do. I’m a shinobi. We are assigned missions and are designated to complete them for the village. Everything we do is for the sake of the village.”

“My, such a serious one. Care to tell me why?”

“Tell you…” Iruka trailed off, taking notice of the question. He continued to follow Kakashi through the trees, landing with a light thump on every branch and leaping off. He quickly pulled out a shuriken from his hip pouch and lightly marked the bark of a tree as they passed by. A couple of minutes passed by and watched as he passed by another tree with a very familiar mark. The brunet suddenly came to a halt, lips pursed.

“Iruka?” Kakashi stopped and turned back to to the chuunin. He hopped back and joined his teammate on the branch. “Is everything ok?”

“We’re going in circles, aren’t we?! Is this even a real mission or not?!” Iruka suddenly shouted, his eyes full of rage.

“Well, for me it is” the jounin confessed. “So back to that question about you being so serious…”

“Is this why Sandaime-sama sent me out here with you?! To interrogate me?!” the chuunin shouted, his fist slamming up against the tree, leaving a small indent.

“Not to interrogate. I can easily do that if I wanted to. Under here is something that can easily make you tell me what I want to hear,” Kakashi tapped his hitai-ate, leaving the chuunin to only speculate. “But I thought it would be best if you would tell me yourself. From what that old man said, your friends and even he himself is worried about you.”

“They don’t need to be. I’m fine!” Iruka shouted and turned to leave.

“Iruka, stop,” he gently held the chuunin’s wrist. “Look, I might not be the right person to be asking you this, but-“

“No, you’re not! I don’t know why Sandaime-sama would even assign you to do this!!” he pulled his wrist back.

“I’m guessing because I’ve been where you are,” Kakashi said, staring at the brunet with his single eye. “Being a bit of a loner, wanting to complete missions exactly, living by the shinobi code…”

Iruka glared away. “Let me guess: this is the part where you tell me exactly why you were like that and changed for the better? You will tell me how it’s better that way?!” he shouted, his body shaking in anger.

“Nope,” Kakashi said simply as he hopped down to the forest floor.

“…What?” Iruka asked, looking down at where the jounin landed. He jumped down and looked back at the other, watching him leaning back against the tree, arms crossed. “You won’t?”

“Nope,” the jounin repeated. “I was even told to read up on you and your file but didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I wanted to get to know you,” Kakashi looked back at him.

Iruka blinked a couple of times, taken back by the comment. “W-Why? It’s not like this is important…”

“You are. You might not think it, but you are. You are important to your friends, to the village, and even to me who has only known you for about an hour or so,” he took a step forward and stared directly into the chuunin’s dark eyes.

“Y-You?!” Iruka took a step back, his face lightly blushing.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. “Heh, you’re really amusing.”

“I’m what?!” the chuunin nearly screeched, stunned.

“Are you ready to go back?” Kakashi stepped off the tree, turning toward the village.

“You’re… really not going to ask me then?” Iruka looked at him, puzzled and confused. “You’re not going to ask me what is wrong with me? This is it?”

“I don’t see anything else I can do to make you- Wait…” Kakashi walked over and peered down. He studied Iruka’s face, looking into his wavering eyes and trembling lips. With one swoop of his hand, the jounin pulled down his mask and planted a soft kiss on the other man’s lips.

Iruka’s eyes widened as he felt the other man’s kiss. In an instant, his hands moved up to his chest and shoved him off. _“What was that?!”_

“A kiss. I did say you were amusing,” Kakashi pulled his mask back up. “At least you seemed to have lightened up a bit,” he tapped Iruka’s blushing face.

“H-Have not!” he smacked Kakashi’s hand away.

“You’re arguing like a child,” the jounin turned away and started to head back.

“W-Wait! You’re just going to leave me just like that?! After what you did?!” the brunet shouted, his voice echoing in the area.

“Your friends did mention you were the childish type!” Kakashi called back. “Does that mean you’re done?”

“Done with what?!”

“Are you done with not being yourself? I became the same way you are now after I lost someone dear to me. And it took a similar loss to learn that was wrong. So best not to dwell on the past and focus on the present and look toward the future,” Kakashi spoke reflectively.

The brunet was left stunned, his feet frozen on the ground. Quickly, flashbacks raced through his head. Flashbacks of his parents, getting recognition for their actions. Hearing the villagers praise them for all that they did. His own pride grew in hopes to follow in their footsteps, to graduate from the Academy and rise the ranks of the shinobi world to be a jounin like them. Yet, all of it was dashed away that day nearly twelve years ago when his whole life was destroyed by a single event. By a single fox.

No one took notice of him without his parents. No one seemed to care about him now that he was an orphan. The class pranks only lasted until he graduated. Pranks were not useful out in the battlefield where they could only do harm. Where he learned that the hard way and almost endangered his whole genin team with one. His careless actions brought on his parents’ deaths and his team nearly following the same fate. That was when he promised himself to change for the better. To be more seriously, to take the missions more seriously. It did work when he was promoted to chuunin fairly quickly afterwards and performed exceedingly well in various missions. Yet at what cost did it become too much? At what point did Iruka lose… Iruka?

Iruka sighed and shook his head, ridding himself of his thoughts, and grumbled as he raced over to the jounin, following back to the village. He started to pick up the pace when he noticed the jounin doing the same too, almost playing a game with him, toying with him. “I swear… once I get my hands on you…!” he called out to Kakashi.

“What? Are you going to teach me a lesson… _Sensei?”_ Kakashi teased.

 _“Kakashi!!!”_ Iruka screamed.

The jounin just chuckled as continued to play the game, his mission completed.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to get the bonus points with a more serious Iruka in this one. I hope I succeeded.


End file.
